Ronald Kenney

A hardworking man without any airs about him, Ronald John Kenney died Dec. 24 after a brief illness. He was 73 and died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where, his wife said, his way was gently eased.

"They were just incredible," Mary Kenney said. "They took such good care of him."

Ronald Kenney, who at one time owned a business of 50 employees in Santa Rosa, was born Sept. 16, 1940, in San Francisco to Frank and Nellie Kenney. His father was an Oakland longshoreman and his mother was a homemaker.

He graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1959. But before that, he met the girl who would become his wife.

They were at Playland, the now-vanished amusement park by San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Mary Carrillo was 15 and with her friends; Kenney was 16 and with his friends.

"We started talking with them, walking around, going on all the rides -#8212; and he asked me for my phone number," Mary Kenney said.

The couple married four years later, at Holy Cross Church on Eddy Street.

Upon graduating from high school, Ronald Kenney did two things other than get married that also would shape his life: He joined the Plumbers Union as an apprentice and he enlisted in the Army Reserve.

In the union, Kenney found the career that would support his family for more than four decades.

In the Reserve, he learned how to cook, a skill he grew to love and that he put to good use preparing the Irish and Italian foods of his heritage.

"Oh, yes, corned beef and cabbage, and he made the best spaghetti sauce and chicken cacciatore," his wife said.

The family moved to Novato for his work in the early 1960s and their two children were born there.

The years passed and Kenney grew to want his own business. So the family moved to Santa Rosa and he built a home on Guerneville Road. That done, he started his business, KLH Plumbing and Heating.

At the business's peak, Kenney had as many as 50 employees. But the economy nosedived in the early-1980s, and he sold KLH and went to work for a San Francisco plumbing firm. On his commute, Kenney -#8212; who loved news and radio host Ronn Owens and the 49ers -#8212; would listen to his favorite station, KGO.

He retired in 2000.

Kenney loved his big vegetable garden, and also giving his crop away to friends.

And he loved sea fishing for salmon and bottom fish, setting out from Bodega Bay and bringing his catch home for dinner.

"He had a boat and it was called 'The Queen Mary,' " Mary Kenney said. "It was the feel of the ocean out there, the freedom, the clean air."

Most of all, though, he loved his family, which included six grandchildren, and celebrating Christmas with them just about topped his list for things to do.

Kenney's survivors include his son, Troy Kenney of Auburn, and daughter, Lori Harkey of Windsor. He is also survived by his brother Frank Kenney and sister Carol Carrillo, both of Petaluma.

A memorial Mass and celebration of life is set for 1 p.m. Jan. 4 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 8400 Old Redwood Highway, in Windsor.